BlogHer Inc. is a new kind of media company, created in partnership by, for and with women, and men, who are leaders across blogs and social media and are passionately committed to quality content. The BlogHer community reaches an audience of 92 million across premium blogs, Web sites, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter (May 2013, Nielsen Site Census).

Women of all ages, sizes and fitness levels strap themselves into some kind of exercise gear on a regular basis. If you're like me, you probably don't think about the sociopolitical history of either the exercise that you're doing or the clothes that you're wearing....more

Not too long ago, as I was half-squatting, half-sprawling on the floor of my local drugstore, unsuccessfully searching the lowest possible shelf for a replacement mascara, a question popped into my head. Do all beauty products get discontinued within a year's time, or just the ones I like?...more

We've all heard about the "it" bag -- the gaudy, blingy, overpriced-but-I've-got-to-have-it bag of the moment.Your attitude toward the "it" bag may depend on your value system, budget, and/or personal political philosophy. To you, "it bags" may be odious symbols of excess and greed. Or, they may be shameful temptations, awakening deeply hidden desires. They might be valued wardrobe basics or temporary flings. You may own one, several, or none....more

There's been a lot of talk in the beauty industry lately about multi-tasking products. You've probably seen ads for some of them: eye creams that disguise and treat, self-tanners that also moisturize and exfoliate, toothpastes that clean and whiten.But I think we can do better. We are living in a modern, industrialized culture, after all. Humans have traveled in space. We can shop for a dizzying array of products that we don't need, online, 24 hours a day, without changing out of our pajamas. Drive-through hamburgers are available at every major intersection. And there's enough reality TV programming to fill every channel, around the clock, for the rest of our lifetimes.
Image: Pink Sherbet Photography via Flickr
...more

I'm a big fan of pedicures, but the manicure has always left me cold. Most of the time, my fingernails are bare, as well as ridiculously short. I played violin for many years, which requires nails that do not extend at all past the fingertip. To this day, I feel twitchy when they get too long.But I always thought the manicure was an optional extra. You know, if you wanted to feel all girly. So I was somewhat dismayed when I recently read an article about preparing for job interviews that listed a “professional” manicure as a requirement, right up there with groomed hair and professional attire....more

How do you know when an outfit is "you?" It seems like a simple question, but it's complicated because who we are is always changing. Do we dress for the self we've always been? The self we want to become? Or some alternate self that we never knew we wanted to be until we tried it out?...more

I've had an on-again, off-again thing with scarves. Let's just say that our relationship has been a stormy one. When I love them, I do so with foolish, reckless abandon. When I spurn them, we don't speak for months....more

I've never been a rebel, but there is rebellion in my heart.
Just ask my 10th grade English teacher. She read the journals into which I -- straight-A student and card-carrying Good Girl that I was -- spilled all my secret fantasies of rebellion. (I saved the really juicy stuff, however, for my secret journals at home)....more

There's nothing quite like shopping "Senior Citizens' Day" at Beall's. Beall's (pronounced Bell's) is Southwest Florida's premiere department store -- at least according to the very frugal women in my family.Of course, one could argue that at Beall's, as in most of SW Florida, every day is Senior Citizen's Day. ...more